The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game

by Michael Lewis Narrated by Stephen Hoye

Overview

In football, as in life, the value we place on people changes with the rules of the games they play.
When we first meet the young man at the center of this extraordinary and moving story, he is one of thirteen children by a mother addicted to crack; he does not know his real name, his father, his birthday, or any of the things a child might learn in school. And he has no serious experience playing organized football.
What changes? He takes up football, and school, after a rich, Evangelical, Republican family plucks him from the mean streets. Their love is the first great force that alters the world's perception of the boy, whom they adopt. The second force is the evolution of professional football itself.
In THE BLIND SIDE, Lewis shows us a largely unanalyzed but inexorable trend in football working its way down from the pros to the high school game, where it collides with the life of a single young man to produce a narrative of great and surprising power.


From the Compact Disc edition.

Editorial Reviews

We are huge fans of Michael Lewis, one of the foremost practitioners of the new literary journalism, an engaging style of nonfiction that blends workmanlike reportage and artful, creative narration. Now the bestselling author of Liar's Poker, Moneyball, and Coach scores a touchdown with this insightful look at professional football and the changing nature of a game now tightly focused on speed, size, and strength. Typically, Lewis provides an appealing, human-interest hook to his deft analysis of America's most popular spectator sport. At the heart of The Blind Side is the remarkable story of a rising gridiron star, a young man -- rescued from an excruciatingly disadvantaged youth by a remarkable family, a Christian education, and the game of football -- who seems destined for a stellar career (and an astronomical salary) in the NFL.

Janet Maslin

Michael Lewis has such a gift for storytelling that it can be dangerous to his nonfiction. He is so much fun to read that he can appear to be shaping an entertaining narrative by sandpapering reality's rough edges. The real-life fable that is The Blind Side tells how a mountainous, destitute black teenager miraculously morphs into an Ole Miss football hero and becomes a member of a wealthy white evangelical family. Its dialogue is sharp and its anecdotes well chosen. Its aim for both the heartstrings and the funny bone is right on the mark.
—The New York Times

Allen Barra

The Blind Side, perhaps the best book written about a college football player since Willie Morris's The Courting of Marcus Dupree (1983), grabs hold of you in several ways. On one hand, you'll be appalled by the tactics used to advance academically unqualified high school and college football players. At the same time, you'll be furiously turning the pages, rooting for Michael Oher to succeed. And the story isn't over: If Oher makes it into the NFL in three years, Lewis should have a dandy follow-up.
— The Washington Post

From the Publisher

"[Lewis] is advancing a new genre of journalism."— George F. Will New York Times Book Review

"The Blind Side works on three levels. First as a shrewd analysis of the NFL; second, as an exposé of the insanity of big-time college football recruiting; and, third, as a moving portrait of the positive effect that love, family, and education can have in reversing the path of a life that was destined to be lived unhappily and, most likely, end badly."— Wes Lukowsky Booklist

PAPERBACK COMMENTARY

2007 Alex Award, Joint winner
2006 New York Times Notable Selection, Winner

Product Details

BN ID:	2940169178562
Publisher:	Penguin Random House
Publication date:	10/17/2006
Edition description:	Unabridged

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